Tag / naan

While Indian makes up for one of the big three ethnic groups in Malaysia, when it comes to Indian food, the Northern variety is definitely one of the least represented. There’s a 24/7 mamak restaurant in every commercial areas, but a true Nothern style cuisine, or in case of Big Singh Chapati, a Punjabi restaurant, is much less common.

BIG Singh Chapati, Subang SS15

So for the Nothern Indian cuisine fans like myself and Haze, we were quite delighted to stumble upon this place while visiting Jyu Raku, one of our favorite Japanese restaurants just a few doors down from Big Singh Chapati.

On our two visits there so far, we tried four different dishes to go with butter naan (RM 5), garlic naan, and white rice (Basmati?).

The butter naan (RM 5) was my favorite, freshly made and packed with generous amount of buttery goodness. Use it to wrap with any of their dozens of dishes and you’ve got yourself a winner.

palak mutton, aloo gobi

Palak mutton (RM 22.9) is a bit different from the palak paneer (spinach + cottage cheese) dish I’m more accustomed to, but they got the muttonsoft and flavorful as well as the spinach on definitely on point here.

Aloo gobi masala (RM 12.9), one of my go-to Northern Indian dishes did not disappoint here, the symphony between potato, cauliflower, onion, and various spices worked wonder.

naan, masala chicken, baingan bharta

Masala chicken (RM 16.9) was again a more than decent dish here, and I was really happy that they have baigan bharta (RM 11.9)a type of smashed eggplant dish), the very first Nothern Indian dish I first had over a decade ago as a student in US, I probably had this in Minneapolis, certainly brought back the memory.

Overall, we rate Big Singh Chapati pretty high, and would definitely return again rather often in the future.

For the best Indian food, it usually takes an Indian to introduce. Not too long ago, over a Friday lunch hour, my most awesome colleague Latha took us on an LRT ride and brought us to Sri Ananda Bahwan restaurant for a taste of what she regards as one of the best naan and chicken tandoori in town.

Sri Ananda Bahwan at Bangsar, just behind the LRT station

Conveniently situated right behind the Bangsar LRT station (you can walk through menara UOB to get there), Sri Ananda Bahwan offers nasi kandar, naan, tandoori, thosai, roti, chapati, and more. While there’s only one Sri Ananda Bahwan in KL, they are actually a chain from up north, with over half a dozen restaurants in Penang, Kedah, and Ipoh.

normal naan with tandoori chicken, delicious

After the first visit, Haze and I went there again a couple weeks later, for the two of us, we ordered naan with tandoori chicken and naan with chicken tikka masala.

The naan had that very welcoming aroma, and the dishes were served with proper condiments in mint chutney, curry, lime, onion, tomato, cucumber, and another chutney I can’t name. Both the tandoori chicken and chicken tikka masala was some of the bests we’ve had, exquisite taste that rivals those from “proper” Indian restaurants.

I had chicken tikka masala, fantastic

We were seated at the air conditioned section of the restaurant (always a plus), and for a change, it is actually clean and comfortable, not an environment you usually associate with mamak outlets.

The bill came to RM 24.10 with a teh tarik and milo ais. Not exactly the cheapest lunch option but one that is plenty good and definitely worth it in my opinion.